Inevitability
by vorvol
Summary: Lightning has just finished going through a gruelling journey to free Fang and Vanille from their crystal sleep, but both she and the Yun need to adjust from a life of fighting alone and hovering over their respective little sisters. The soldier is cold and the Pulsian is being annoying, but one can't deny the inevitable. It can only be delayed. (Fang/Lightning)
1. The Beginning At The Middle

**So I finally caved and decided to write an epic FFXIII fanfic. I argued to myself that NOOOO, I don't have time for this, but the feels got to me and I'm trash so here it is.**

 **Anyway, I don't feel like writing 2 chapters worth of background information, so everything that happens before this chapter is explained via minor flashbacks at the beginning of every chapter. Don't worry if you're confused about something because it's probably meant to be that way. If you think otherwise, just ask me!**

 **This fanfic picks up from the events of FFXIII. The things that will be explored here include lots of Gran Pulse stuff, as in lots. Be prepared for a lot of adventuring.**

 **You might notice that these two aren't being as obsessive about their 'sisters' as usual. There's an explanation for that, of course, and I'm not going to be all "Lightning is in denial and Fang pokes the bear a lot" without an explanation as well! Just trust me and let me explain it later ;)**

* * *

 _Lightning jams down her gunblade as hard as she can into the small gap between the orb's constantly shifting plates of stone. She forces down the weight of her body until the entire weapon is buried to the hilt, gritting her teeth as she falls towards the ground. The glowing runes of the orb beat brighter as it starts to fail, almost like an artificial heartbeat that speeds up with it's demise._

 _She braces herself for the fall. The first contact of stone against ground releases a pulse that pings all around them in powerful bright waves of energy that simultaneously weaves around her like water while passing through her in an ethereal burst that ignites from the ridges between it's plates. The force knocks her backwards and she lets go of her weapon. The soldier has always been excellent at every single facet of combat, but the painful gash that runs down her thigh damaged her muscles more than she cared to admit and she's paying the price now._

 _She gracefully lands on her feet, but the rivulets of blood that run down her shins and the pain of her sliced tendons effectively stop her from digging her heel into the ground. Lightning lands on her hips first with bruising force before she flips around and hits her shoulder. The l'Cie rolls to a halt after sliding more than twenty feet away from the now defunct sphere. It's lights are dead and her gunblade looks a little bit worse for wear, but it's done._

 _Is gone and they're going to wake up. Vanille and Fang are going to wake up._

 _Lightning winces as she drags herself onto her feet. It takes a while to reach her weapon with the limp she has, and it's even harder to pull it out, but she does it because she's Lightning Farron and she does what she has to._

 _She's coming home._

* * *

"There, all done." Fang ties the final knot. Perhaps her bandaging skills are far from being as good as Vanille's, but she thinks she did a pretty decent job. Maybe she had to rewrap it a couple of times, but she didn't waste the single roll like she did the first time she tried to change Lightning's dirty ones.

The elder Farron reluctantly pulls down the shirt that she often wears when she goes to bed. Her pants are right there on the foot of her bed, safely out of reach from her hands on the perfectly white sheets. "Thank you." She frankly says, her eyes fixed downwards. Although she can definitely appreciate how her leg doesn't itch anymore, all she has on her mind is the cool touch of her sheets on her bare thighs.

In her defence, Serah is usually the one who cleans her wounds and such. It's always been that way, from her first day of work and throughout her promotions and countless nicks and cuts, some worse than others.

And then Fang suddenly showed up this morning, bandages in tow. This would not have been so bad if she could change into shorts so she wouldn't have had to take her pants off, but she can barely even walk without crutches. Every step tears her muscles more than they already are, and she'd like to get back into fighting shape as soon as possible.

Only after staring at the pristine pair of track pants at the end of the bed does she notice that Fang hasn't said anything. One look explains the observation, confirming that the Pulsian is indeed looking down, much further from where she's supposed to be. She whistles, not even trying to conceal that she likes what she's seeing. "You really like white, eh?"

Lightning pulls down her shirt even further, perfectly aware that it's probably going to be stretched and ruined if she keeps it up. "Why are you here?"

"Helpin' out my Sunshine, of course." She replies, much too casually for the soldier's comfort. The smirk on her face is too infuriating for words. "After all, she got hurt just so she can see my beautiful face, right? Only seemed right if I patched up my hero." She bats her eyelids exaggeratedly.

"Don't flatter yourself, Fang." Lightning coldly denies. "You and Vanille have been good allies and I wish to continue fighting with you both."

Fang's eyes are still pointed down. "Right..."

Serah walks into the hallway with a clear view of Fang barely dodging Lightning's slipper by a hair. The, you guessed it, white object clatters to the ground just as incoherent shouting from the room grabs her attention. It's soon cut off by the Pulsian shutting the door out of fear for her own safety, although the wide grin on her face suggests that she's doing it just because.

The dark skinned woman releases a relieved breath. "Damn, your sister's hot when she's mad."

"I'm glad the two of you are getting along." Serah giggles, the tray of food stable in her hands. The omelette and the glass of milk is still warm.

"That for the ball of happiness inside there?"

The younger Farron nods. "Yep. Sis has always been picky with her food. I put spinach in the omelette so she'll stop talking about not getting enough nutrients." She points her eyes to the tall glass of milk. "And we can't forget the protein."

Fang seems to agree. "Course not." She chuckles and the corner of her lips rise in a not entirely innocent smirk. "No way she can have those thighs without them."

A flash of alarm shows in Serah's eyes and she falls silent. "Um..."

The Oerban cocks her head to the side. "What?"

"You know, the last time someone said something like that to my sister, she had to pay for all the fake teeth he had to buy." She coughs. "Well, I did, because she didn't want to..."

"What? Why?" Fang does look genuinely confused.

Lightning told her about how things worked in Gran Pulse. No laws, no authority except for the fal'Cie that delegated l'Cie from time to time. "We're not allowed to hurt anyone but criminals in Cocoon. If we do, we could go into jail or we'd have to pay a lot of money to cover their medical bills."

"That's weird." She shrugs her powerful shoulders. "It's legal to be an asshole but illegal to punch one in the face?"

"I think Claire agrees with you." Serah hopes she won't have to meet more angry mothers and concerned siblings, though. "Maybe that's why she likes you."

Fang bursts out laughing so suddenly that Serah almost spills the milk. "Oh, don't let 'er hear you say that."

"Oh, come on, Fang." Serah brushes her away thoughtfully. "Sis even got you your own room when we built this house, and she left alone to free you and Vanille before we even set the foundation. She didn't come back until yesterday." A small morose look crosses her face for the split second she stops talking. "I was really worried about her."

Fang can see why. If what she suspected Lightning did was true, then her sister has every right to be concerned. She puts a powerful hand on the younger woman's shoulder, looking down at her with a reassuring smile. "Hey. I'm gonna look after your sis now, like she looked after me. Nothin's gonna get to her while I'm watching, you got it?"

Serah nods peppily. "Yep." She remembers the brief talks she had with her only sibling before she left for all those months. "She said you're really strong."

Fang would like to tell her all about the time she wrestled animals to the ground with her bare hands and even hunted down a dragon, but then she remembers the food. "You want me to feed 'er?"

"Oh, no, Vanille said she wanted to see you." Serah is about to smack her own forehead in realization when she realizes she's still holding the tray. She can't believe she forgot to tell Fang about Vanille. "Besides, Claire's arms are fine. She'll never let me. Oh, I'd better get to her before the food is cold!"

Fang imagines herself feeding the mighty soldier and decides to try and do it some time, if only to see her reaction. "Heh. Yeah, that'll be the day."

She whistles an old tune as she makes her way through the immaculately vacuumed hallways of the Farron manor. She's been walking around all morning and her bare feet hasn't even collected a single visible speck of dust, which makes complete sense when one considers who owns the place. It's not long before she enters the small library. The shiny dark wooden panels line the floors and sleek black bookcases cover most of the walls. Books on various subjects neatly fill every corner, and two dark brown recliners sit at the edge of the room with a comfortable red carpet underneath.

Vanille sits on said recliner with a rather large and thick leather book on her lap, impatiently tapping on it as she gives Fang her most pouty face. "Come on, come on, I found it!"

"Great." Fang speeds up her walk. "Good to know our fearless soldier isn't going to cause the end of the world or anything, right?"

"No, thankfully." The other Oerban sighs in relief. "Not that I'm not happy about being free or anything, but going after some legend I told as a campfire story that was probably fake was really ballsy. Especially if she knew nothing about it except for what it did."

"Hey, that's Sushine for ya." Fang shrugs. "Alright, so what did you find?"

Vanille waits until the older woman leans over her to view a startlingly accurate sketch of the orb. "The Orb of Stase. Apparently, after years and years of people being unwillingly turned into Pulse l'Cie, one of them somehow created some kind of device to break the sleeping ones from crystal sleep. He ran out of time though, and he didn't complete it. No one knows if he turned Cie'th or completed his focus, but he left the blueprints for the next l'Cie who found it."

"Damn." Fang clicks her tongue. "Who woulda thought?"

"I guess no one wants to die like that." Vanille swallows and her fingers stiffen. "I know we didn't."

"Vanille..."

"Anyway," She coughs. "The next l'Cie found it, and then the next, and then so on. I don't really know why they didn't activate it, though..."

"And then Light found it." Fang completes. "And it blasted shit at her or something."

"Which is really weird, since that would make the activation harder." Vanille strokes her chin thoughtfully as she fingers the corner of the page. "Especially since she said there were these guardians that sprang from the walls and tried to stop her."

"Oh, don't think too much about it." Fang pats her back. Her calloused hand is comforting as always to the girl she already considers her sister. The rough pads are the way they are after scuffles of a childhood long since past and they are soft for her, just like they've always been. "We're fine now, right? No more runnin' and hiding. Best enjoy it."

She's hesitant, but she closes the book she's been analyzing since the day before. It wasn't hard to find the pages due to an amazing invention called the glossary, but everyone came to see them. Sazh and his son brought food, NORA and Snow threw a party that led to them being forced to clean up afterwards, and Hope's gotten a lot less sullen. Serah herself has been too nice to her and she would feel horrible retreating from all that to stare at a book. "I guess you're right."

The heavy thump of the book closing shut is accompanied by the soft creak of the door opening. Lightning slowly enters with both her crutches in her arms, noticeably wearing a pair of shorts instead of track pants now. She stops, her right leg quite obviously slack. "Vanille." She takes a look at the woman in the blue sari and her gaze stiffens. "Fang."

"Hi," Vanille carefully puts the book on the table by her recliner. "I was just doing some reading about the Orb of Stase."

"Oh, that." Lightning doesn't seem very interested in discussing it. She slowly makes her way to one of the tall shelves, her eye on some thick novel with a green spine. After she leans one of her crutches against the adjacent wall, she rises on her tip toes, her bad leg still limp at her side.

She can't reach it. It's just out of reach from her fingertips, although Lightning is by no means short. A lone stepladder sits in the corner of the room, but she obviously can't use that. So there she is, viciously glaring at the book, but no amount of it would make the novel tip and fall into her waiting hand.

A warm breath brushes against the supple skin of her neck and the small contact her fingers make with Fang's makes her freeze. The Yun's finger effortlessly hooks over the book's spine and pulls down, sending it right into her hand. The book goes right over Lightning's head.

Fang smirks like she's just found a stash of embarrassing baby pictures. "A romance novel about pirates?" Her curious green eyes flit to the summary. "When a commander of the Royal Navy is ordered to take in a dangerous pirate from-"

"Give me that." Lightning interrupts, reaching out a hand to take it back.

Fang lifts the book up. "Never knew you liked reading these, Sunshine."

"You have no reason to." She coldly scowls.

"Give it back, Fang." Vanille awkwardly laughs from behind her. "I really like my room and I don't want us to get kicked out."

"We won't." The former huntress confidently says. "This place's owner adores me."

"Stop flapping your gums around, Fang." Lightning glowers.

Vanille doesn't seem too convinced by Fang's answer. Given a few extra inches, she would smack her and take it back before they both get thrown out to the wilderness, although that wouldn't really trouble them at all. She gives Lightning her most apologetic look. "I'm so sorry about my idiot sister, Lightning, it's just that she's never had this much free time before."

"True." Fang doesn't deny it.

"We've always been running and hiding and she's always been fighting and hunting in some serious thing or another." She continues, giving the taller woman her harshest stare. "She's just starting to be annoying because she has nothing else to do."

"Hey! I'm not annoying."

"You are being very annoying." Lightning deadpans. "It's only been one day, literally one day since you woke up. We have a television and a library, not to mention a gym. Do something that's not annoying me."

"I helped you change your bandages!"

"You were staring at my legs."

Fang innocently beams. "Can you blame me for it?"

"You moved my coat hanger an inch to the right."

"You noticed that, huh?"

Lightning's eyebrow twitches. "You knew it would bother me. Then you tried on my clothes, switched the weights on the weight rack, and put chocolate milk in the salt container."

"She's just a bored baby!" Vanille hurriedly jumps between them before anything can happen. "She won't do it again, right?" She hopefully looks behind her for an answer.

Fang has already begun reading the summary out loud again. "They fall into unbearable lust and soon-"

Lightning raises her crutch high into the air, ready to strike down, and Vanille closes her eyes. Here it comes.

And then it doesn't.

She peeks out with one eye and sees Lightning looking, frankly, exasperated. Lightning puts the crutch back down because of course she wasn't actually going to do it, and Fang's voice dies down as quickly as it rose up, and she stays that way as she watches the injured Farron exit the room with an annoyed sneer.

The sounds of her feet on her floor is the only thing that fills the room as Fang watches her, dumbfounded. The door shuts a little bit harder than it's supposed to.

Vanille crosses her arms. "Now you've done it."

* * *

 **All right, then, now I wait to see if there's any interest in it because I'll continue or not based on how much intrigue this story gets. Tell me what you think.**


	2. Hushed Whispers

**First of all, I'm just sort of making this up as I go along. I do have an action-packed, sexy plot in mind, but the beginning where Lightning is still injured is still open to suggestions. It's the part when tension builds up, back and forth dialogue happens, etc, etc. Basically, a lot of character interactions.**

 **So, what are you waiting for? Go give me some suggestions, god damn it. It's the romcom phase, which is the only phase where I can take a lot of suggestions.**

 **Also, I couldn't log in the past few days because the website was down or something? Sorry for taking my sweet time, I guess.**

* * *

"She's a lot like Claire, Vanille." Serah's voice is soft, but the silence makes her easy enough to hear. "Sis has spent most of her life looking out for me. She let me eat before she can, spent every moment making sure I was safe." The teacher's voice halts for a moment. "I think she just doesn't know what to do now that she knows she doesn't have to wake up every morning to find money for food anymore."

Vanille takes a moment to contemplate her words. "Now that I think of it, I think you're right. Fang's been doing the same thing for me for the longest time, too."

"I guess it's kind of sad." Serah's smile almost looks forlorn. She doesn't pity them because she never can, but she feels their confusion. "What does it feel like to do something for so long to not know anything else?"

"Lost." It's the first word that comes to Vanille's mind. "Like you've spent years building up a tower and now you don't know what to once it's done."

Serah nods. "I think you're right."

So they watch as Fang prods and pokes and slowly maps out the subtle differences of all of Lightning's faces, from surprised to annoyed and relieved to relaxed.

Amusingly enough, it's mostly annoyed.

* * *

"Now you've done it, Fang." Vanille is stronger than she looks. She drags the taller woman by her earlobe, out of the library and into the halls.

Fang barely manages to stay upright as she feels her ear get stretched to a length that can't be natural. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Apologize!" Vanille barks, pulling harder and harder.

The deep bass of Fang's voice goes up a few octaves. "That fuckin' hurts!"

"Suits you right." The Dia yanks down powerfully one last time before she finally lets go of the poor ear. "You don't treat a lady that way, Fang!"

"Shit." Fang rubs her raw ear with utmost care, making sure to stay exactly a foot away from the normally very nice girl. "I don't remember you bein' that jacked."

Vanille huffs and puts her hands on her hips. "That was mean, Fang."

"I was teasing 'er!" The former pride of the Yun clan complains, taking one step back once she sees the smaller of the two clench her fists.

"Then you were doing it wrong." She crossly taps her foot. "Really, Fang, have you never tried to woo a girl-"

That draws a reaction immediately. Fang clamps her hand over Vanille's mouth, effectively silencing her. "Shh, not so loud."

The proficient healer complains and curses into the hand, but it's pointless. No amount of pushing and shoving can beat superior strength and no amount of shouted threats actually sounds like anything else to Fang but muffled gibberish.

Fortunately for her, the other Oerban doesn't feel like being locked out of her room tonight, so she lets her go, but only when Vanille quiets down. "Keep if down, will you?" She practically whispers, looking around just to make sure no one heard that. "And no, I don't do a lot of 'wooin'. You know that."

"But no one else does." Vanille helpfully informs. She's the only one who knows her before they became l'Cie, and their lives were very much eventful and not the least bit safe. When Fang wasn't busy following her next big mark on a hunt, she was busy fighting in the front lines when a tribal conflict arose, and during the brief moments when she wasn't doing either, she was busy chasing off the less desirable suitors that wanted to get in Vanille's pants.

It's not very different from Lightning's routine from before.

Fang stubbornly crosses her arms. "Yeah, so?"

"So," Vanille puts some emphasis in the word. "You sound like an annoying pervert."

The pride of the Yun clan seems offended by the notion. "The hell, I'm not." She says, a bit louder than she intended to.

"Why can't you-"

"Wait." Fang closes her hand over her mouth again. She hears something. "Do you hear that?"

Vanille would accuse her of changing the subject, but everyone trusted Fang's ears, and she still does. "Yeah, I do."

After so many times standing by Lightning's side in battle, the sounds leave no question is their heads. They're gunshots. Fang goes, and Vanille follows her down the stairs and into the kitchen and out into the courtyard, where a shooting range has been placed next to the fitness room that the Yun frequents every morning.

Lightning's aim is off. Her usual pinpoint accuracy is nowhere to be found and none of her shots hit the round red in the middle of the target, but considering she's only supporting herself on one foot, she's doing quite well for herself.

And, of course, she hears the door opening and she knows the two are watching her empty round after round into the poor target, only one shot grazing the bullseye that normally won't be able to escape her wrath.

Vanille hopes that Fang would keep her mouth shut, but that seems too good to be true.

"You're losin' your touch, Sunshine."

Lightning stops and her trigger finger falls still. For a moment, Vanille wonders if she's just angry at them, but it's not even a question worthy of Fang to consider pondering.

Lightning's expressions are like unchanging stones to most, but she's learned to notice the little twitches of her eyebrow and the small quirks of her lips. The bright blue of her pupils are wider when she's surprised and they're steely when she's determined.

Damn, is she cute when she breaks out of her outwardly expressionless facade, even if it usually involves a lot of threats.

And so, it surprises Vanille more than a little bit when Lightning doesn't point her gun at Fang and starts shooting. Instead, she lowers it. "I'd like to see you say that when I'm not injured."

She can't believe the slight trace of humor in her voice.

The small smirk in the soldier's face is almost too small to notice, but Fang has always had keen eyes. "That a challenge?"

"You're a smart woman, Fang. You can figure it out." Lightning looks at them this time, but although her voice is level as always, her words tell a different story.

Vanille has seen Fang throw jabs at her like some poor soul tickling a bear with a stick, but this is the first time she's seen Lightning hit back with anything other than an annoyed huff. It's like some slow game of push and pull, and only now does she believe it when the other Oerban says she knows what she's doing.

However, she doesn't believe that Lightning Farron suddenly decided to change her tactics on a whim. It must have been Serah, or at least one of the other former l'Cie, but most likely Serah, because of course it must be her.

"I'll take that as a yes." Fang answers, crossing her arms a bit cockily. "You sure you can handle it?"

"I know I can." Lightning says it like it's easy, the way she talks about everything as if nothing is impossible for her. "A lot of people have seen me in battle, Fang. All of them seemed impressed."

Now Vanille is sure they're both just messing with her. "Okay, um, I should go." Before anyone has the chance to say anything, she already goes back through the door she passed not five minutes ago. It doesn't take long for her to listen to the loud blare of cartoons and figure out that it's Serah, and it takes even less time for her to get there.

The younger Farron isn't slouching on the couch, of course. She doesn't do that. She sits politely, like how she does everything, as she giggles here and there at this funny new cartoon that she found on this channel. She's halfway through the season and maybe she'll grab the whole second one on her next trip to the store. She doesn't take her eyes away, even as Vanille stands with her mouth agape by the door.

"Serah," She calls. "Did you say something to your sister?"

"Yeah." Serah smiles proudly. "She told me about what happened, so I told her to stop being so grumpy with poor Fang. She must be wondering why sis keeps sulking around her." She looks borderline apologetic. "Sorry, Claire is just like that. She doesn't take teasing well, since she's so serious a lot of the time."

"What? No." Vanille looks horrified. "Lightning actually acts like a normal person. Poor Fang is acting like some kind of annoying pervert, always staring her legs and stuff."

"She's not being annoying." Serah pats the spot next to hers, inviting her to sit down. "My sister's being too hard on her. I'm so sorry about that, by the way. I know we talked about this..."

Vanille gladly lets herself fall on the expensive sofa. She stretches her arms. "No way, I'm the one who's sorry. She wasn't really like this back when we first met."

This piques Serah's curiosity. "What was she like, then?"

Vanille lets the sounds of animated noises pass through her ears, although she doesn't really pay attention to them. "Still doing that smirk of hers, but she was serious." Driven, too. "She did everything to save me, and I did everything to save her, like we've always done."

"Then I guess that's one of the reasons why she gets along so well with Claire." Serah giddily says. "They're both so protective over people they care for."

"We've all gotten a lot closer after the whole 'fight for your lives and everything else' thing." It's an understatement, and she knows it. Their unlikely team has wormed so much into each other's psyches that Vanille finds it hard to believe that she can't hear Snow's snoring at night anymore. Fang had even started to protect the others too like she always did for her, pulling Hope away whenever he walked to close to the forest or telling Sazh not to sleep too close to the rivers.

She got especially close to Lightning. They rarely exchanged too many words, but the understanding between them was absolute. They matched perfectly in battle like two sides of the same coin, syncing with almost no effort at all to obliterate what poor fool dared to stand in their way. Nothing ever did manage to survive them, and no one ever did either. They remind Vanille of the old legends of Gran Pulse lore, invincible and unbearably beautiful at the same time.

"So, you're getting married in a month?" Vanille suddenly remembers.

Like always, the mention of her wedding puts a silly grin on Serah's face. "Yep! We're still taking care of stuff, but it's all going according to plan."

"Thanks for waiting so me and Fang could come, by the way." She knows that the two probably couldn't wait to marry each other, but then Snow told her that Serah wanted them to be there. She said she owed the people who fought for her that much.

"I want you both to be there." Serah says, a bit bashfully. "Claire was always talking about the two of you. She told me about how much you helped by making these healing salves out of the local plant life and about how strong Fang was." She pauses and lowers her voice, leaning a bit closer. "Especially about how strong Fang was."

Vanille wonders if she should say the obvious, but then she decides to do it anyway. "I think Fang's got a thing for your sister."

Serah giggles and shakes her head. "Oh, duh. My sister's doing everything she can to convince me she's too busy with work to bother with that stuff, but I call bullshit."

Vanille has never heard Serah say anything that would make her students' parents gasp. That's how she knows that when Serah says it's bullshit, it's bullshit.

"Alright, let's see how they're doing." Serah gingerly stands and parts the red curtains that cover the windows.

* * *

While we're still at the bad romantic comedy that only preteens watch stage, put in some scene requests because now may be one of your only few chances to do so! See ya.


	3. Three Against One

_Fang knows she'll have to put her weapon down, one day. That's what Vanille thinks, at least._

 _The pride of the Yun clan knows of nothing if it's not of drinks and blood. Vanille hugs her tighter and longer every time she comes back from a skirmish or a hunt. The blood and grime is always gone by the time Fang comes home to see her, perhaps to spare her of the grisly sights, but the soulful green eyes grow darker with every life brought to an end by her hands. It doesn't matter if she comes home with scratches and limps, her eyes look forward like she's preparing herself for the next time she'll have to watch someone's last breath fly._

 _She always remembers to give Vanille that smile of hers, though, the one that's just for her best friend, but the Dia still worries. She sees the barricades in her voice whenever she talks to anyone else, the way her fingers clasp a bit tighter on her lance. She doesn't trust anyone, and why should she? Fang is a creature of unadulterated passion and blood. Fire runs through her veins and war is her soul. Who could ever hope to match such a force of nature? Wolves aren't meant to fall in love with deer._

 _Vanille finds out the answer years later, and ironically, her name fits her like a soldier's sword fits in a scabbard._

 _Lightning._

* * *

"Y'know, I'd ask you to go to Lebreau's if I could." Fang doesn't seem too bothered, but then again, she's good at hiding it. "Or maybe we can go whenever we can."

"It's tomorrow, Fang." Lightning enlightens her. "I'm guessing Serah was the one who told you about it."

"What? Those assholes only letting us go up there only once a week to keep an eye on us?" She scoffs. "Figures. It hasn't even been a year and they're already electing old dickheads to make laws and keep us out. I'm startin' to wonder if saving 'em was a good idea."

"They're only keeping us here because they know they can't do anything if we try anything, which is redundant. Why would we save them and then try to undo what we did?" The former soldier knows why. "Yes, they can pit their entire forces against us, but that would cause a civil war. There are pockets of people who don't support isolating us here."

The Cocoon parliament has never gotten on Lightning's good side, and this only reinforces her less than approving thoughts of it. Of course, they funded a very luxurious place for them to stay, but of course it has to be in Grand Pulse because they're Pulse l'Cie.

It doesn't matter that they saved them. It doesn't matter at all that Vanille and Fang risked themselves to save them, and that's the final straw for Lightning.

"You resigned, huh?" Fang asks, after a brief study of the unhappy scowl that seems to be appearing on the former soldier's face a lot.

"I threw my badge in their faces, if that's what you meant by resigning." Then she disappeared for months to find a way to free them. It was the least she could do, after their seemingly futile sacrifice.

Lightning shakes her head. She shouldn't say that. Certainly, it wasn't futile, but it did feel that way. She remembers long nights in the wilderness thinking about how disappointed Vanille would be and how angry Fang would be when they find out how Cocoon repaid it's saviors.

They're both taking it better than she thought they would, though. It was their redemption to save Cocoon, but the pink haired woman only realized it after she peeled away yet another layer of Fang. She wonders how many more there are, just waiting for her to pull them off and-

No. She's not going there.

"Did you just make a joke?" Fang seems much more amused than she should be.

"Is it so hard to believe that I did?"

The Oerban shrugs. "Hey, I've never seen you crack one before."

"No, you haven't." She admits, a bit mournfully. She won't let it end there, though. "I have a feeling you'll believe me if I said I color coded my wardrobe, though."

Fang decides not to mention that she's wondered about it before. "And you really don't?" There's that smirk again.

She won't answer that, because she actually does do it. "What do you think, Fang?"

"Avoiding the question isn't like you, huh?" She retorts, but fails to get a desired reaction from the oldest Farron.

Lightning refuses to back down, though. Her pride wouldn't let her, and she may be enjoying this a little bit. "Tell me this," An uncharacteristic grin starts to rise to the surface, but she forces it down. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm gonna find out sooner or later, right?" Her confidence is unwavering.

Although it takes a deal of strength to keep her face straight, Lightning doesn't flinch. "Don't be so sure."

No reply. They lock eyes for just a brief moment, like two guns reloading before another show of gunpowder and marksmanship. Finally, Fang finds a reply she's confident in. "Dunno if I'm wrong, but you don't sound so sure."

She hates to admit it, but that got a reaction from her. The corner of Lightning's lips twitch involuntarily. "What makes you think that?"

And then Fang does something the shorter woman didn't think she'd do- she steps forward. "Gotta admit, you didn't slip up a bit, back there." Her breaths stay still, even as her face is inches away from Lightning's. Just as the former soldier begins to mentally pace to whip herself into figuring out what to do, the Yun turns around and begins to walk away, only glancing behind once. This time, she can't hold back her grin. "The blush doesn't make you look all that convincin', though."

Lightning is glad the lance-wielding woman isn't looking at her, because she gapes like a fish out of water and the heat in her cheeks finally flare warm enough for her to feel like there's a furnace in there.

Fang doesn't give her the pleasure of saving her dignity, though. She looks back one more time before she turns the doorknob. "You weren't blushin', by the way, but you are now."

She doesn't know if her face is burning up because of embarrassment, anger, or both.

* * *

"You did it." Serah can't believe it.

Fang shuts the door behind her, cocking her head curiously to the side. "Yeah, thought the two of you were watchin'."

"Told you she'd find out..." Vanille would like to have an 'I told you so' moment, but the questions racing to burst out of her takes first priority. She zips past Serah and lands on her tip toes right before she crashes into the huntress. "What did you say to her?"

"I can't believe you actually made Claire blush." Serah shakes her head in awe. "Claire."

Fang proudly flexes her hefty arm and winks cheekily at the school teacher. "Hey, it's the Yun charm. No one's immune to it, yeah?"

"Fang was really popular back in Oerba." Vanille explains to the younger Farron. "Too bad she was busy chasing away my admirers to actually give them any attention. At all." She sticks her tongue out at the woman she's come to consider her sister. "They were heartbroken, I tell you."

"Hey, I never led them on. I told 'em I was too busy to make out behind the bushes." Fang holds her hands up in mercy. She quirks her eyebrow. "But hey, I'd be heartbroken too if I wasn't into me."

Vanille rolls her eyes obnoxiously, although she can't disagree with that. She's had her share of friends who practically swooned when Fang dragged the alpha behemoth back to the village. Their squeals and lovesick tirades plagued her for months. "Don't let your head get too big, Fang. The house is pretty big, but I don't know if it'll fit."

"I can see why they'd be like that, though." Serah rubs her chin as she nods at the woman before her. She looks more like an art critic in a museum than a teacher. "You're really good looking, Fang."

"Don't tell her that." Vanille clamps her hand on Serah's mouth tightly. "Her head's big enough already."

The door clicks open before Fang can shoot out her next smart retort and Lightning carefully times her steps as to not trip over the small groove that separates the interior of the house from the outside. Judging by the lack of both displeased frown and also her trademark glare, they've got nothing to fear.

"Missed me?" Fang asks, without missing a beat.

The injured woman shoots her a look. "Serah, don't forget the grocery list for tomorrow." Lightning reminds her. On the very top of the list that explains exactly why she hates being injured, not being able to do everything by herself is written on the top.

"Of course not." Serah crosses her arms as if the very thought is absurd. "I've been doing all the shopping for a while you know, me and Snow."

"Thank you, then." It seems strange for her to not have the urge to stab something the moment Snow's name is mentioned, but she's been getting used to it.

"Wait, why are you reminding me? Aren't you going to come tomorrow?" Serah suddenly remembers.

Lightning slightly lifts her crutch. "I can't fight." She admits grudgingly.

Serah doesn't get it. "Why would you need to fight?"

Lightning makes a face. She always did think that her younger sister really needed to think things through more, although most people would disagree. "Serah, the councilors are only letting us go to Coccoon once a week to avoid a public riot from the residents who support us. There's a very real possibility that they will try to frame us or cause harm in order to get their wishes."

The words immediately seem off to Fang. She hasn't known Lightning for all too long, but fighting alongside a person will let you know them more than a sibling or a spouse does. She won't recite the words out loud, but the old Gran Pulse saying has a point. The l'Cie would have cut herself off from the sphere held up by crystal long ago, but she didn't.

 _Was it for Serah?_ She has no doubt. Everything she does is for Serah, just like how everything Fang herself does is for Vanille.

"Yeah, so if they attack us in public, that would cause an incident. Bingo, they won't." Serah pouts, her hands on her hips.

"I don't like the chances of you and Snow wandering up there alone." Lightning ignores her argument. "Sazh says his son has a cold, so he won't be able to come this week."

Fang coughs. "Hello? You forgettin' about me already?"

"Hey, I know you can kick my ass, but that doesn't mean I can't fight." Vanille feigns offense.

"The two of you are at risk." Lightning wastes no time in getting to the point. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Aw," Fang diverts the topic expertly, batting her eyelashing and swooning like an actress in a cheesy play. "Can't say I'm not flattered. You kinda seem like the type."

Lightning knows that asking would just lead to the other woman trying to get a rise out of her, but she does just that anyway. Not asking would make her look like she's trying to avoid the question, which would lead to more questions, and so on. "The type?"

"The broody protective type." Fang thoughtfully recalls some of her past comrades. "Most of them have black hair, 'cause that's hot, I guess. Pink suits you, though. Cute."

" _Cute_?" Only those who know Lightning well enough can tell that her facial muscles are contracting. "I'm not—" She sighs, hoping she looks like she's too exasperated to answer. Damn if anyone knows she just doesn't have an answer. "Just be careful."

"Huh?" Vanille seems to have missed something.

"What is it?"

"You're comin' with us, of course." Fang playfully hooks her arm over Lightning's shoulder. "You, me, everyone else. Show 'em vipers what they missed, right?"

Serah has a feeling that she's going to be the mediator of a very long argument.

* * *

 **Yeah, this was a long wait. Shit happens and I'm surviving on cereal for lunch and doritos for breakfast now lol. Any requests for a day out in town? As usual, I'm a lazy shit so I didn't beta. Tell me if anything's wrong.**


	4. Someone Is Watching

Common sense tells Lightning that being in enemy territory is not in her best interests, but there's nothing she can do. Fang and Serah are at her sides and everyone else seems mostly fine with their arrangements, even though they're not at all too happy about it. Sazh holds his son closer to him as the airship door hisses open and Snow clenches his fists a bit harder than necessary when he sees the guards outside.

Lightning used to see them regularly when she was on duty. They're not usually in their full riot gear. The sleek dark plating and the assault rifles are only reserved for the more dangerous jobs they have to take on, yet there they are, even though they're only here to shop and return as fast as possible.

She'd like to spit on them and all they stand for.

They know the drill, except for Fang and Vanille, of course, but they follow when the rest calmly walk outside. Their eyes are still trained on the gunmen lined up outside, and theirs are on them too. Fingers are stiff and ready to pull the trigger. Fang seems indifferent as usual, but Lightning spots the scowl of disgust she makes when she thinks no one is looking. Vanille is more readable. Despite her earlier cheeriness, the disappointment carved on her face can't be any more obvious.

They deserve better than this. The former soldier makes sure to glare at every single one of the guards as she passes them, although the dark visors on their helmets prevent her from actually seeing their eyes. She thinks she hears more than one of them gulp, though, and that brings a small dose of satisfaction to her. It's entirely possible that some of these people were trainees she once trained. She never did like training people that much.

With no small amount of hesitation, she steps past the last guard.

Cocoon. Cars zipping about, the trains zooming past, stores bustling as always. It's like nothing has changed one bit. The roads have been fixed and the towers have been patched up to the point of gleaming. There's no trace of what happened just a few months ago. The bodies are gone and the people have forgotten, predictably.

Lightning can't believe it, but she's actually glad she can't be around them too much. She wouldn't be able to hide the desire to knock some sense into every single little head of these people, otherwise.

"Ah, nothing like the smell of steel and concrete." Fang takes a deep inhalation. "Kinda missed going to the bar."

"We can pay a visit to the liquor store." Lightning suggests. As much as she tolerates Lebreau, she can't stand to be with so many of these damn people in such a small space.

"Why let's go visit Lebreau!" Vanille immediately loses the gloom when she thinks of her favorite bar owner. "I miss her a lot. I wonder if she even remembers me..." Her voice trails off at the end of the sentence.

"She's been asking about you every time we visit." Serah hopes the knowledge will at least bring her some comfort.

Snow pats her back with that large hand of his, grinning reassuringly. "Yeah. She's one of us, you know that."

"Let's just go straight to the bar." Fang smirks. "You know we don't need these packaged stuff to survive down there."

Vanille nods furiously. "Yeah! I've been foraging since I was really small and you've got a purebred Yun huntress over here." She proudly gestures to the fellow Oerban.

"Stop talkin' about me like I'm a prize winning chocobo." Fang throws her arm around her and gives the shorter girl a noogie. She lets her go before she messes up her hair too much, because even she doesn't have a death wish.

"Come on, you two don't wanna go shopping for chocolate?" Serah pouts.

"I've got to get some diapers for Dajh too." Sazh coughs.

"Of course I want some chocolate." Vanille gapes at her incredulously. "I always want chocolate."

"Then let's go to the store." Fang's resolve folds like a cheap tent. "We'll to the bar after that, yeah?"

"Hell yeah." Snow pumps his fist. "I'm gonna call NORA to meet up there. They've been waiting enough!"

Lightning sighs quietly. Great, now she'll have to deal with NORA too. She does appreciate them, but sometimes their noise makes a vein pop in her head.

"Hey, son, watch the language!" Sazh closes his son's ears.

"Sorry!"

* * *

"Why are you buying that?" Lightning balks at the amount of of powdered milk Fang put in the shopping cart, and then some more when she sees her reaching for more.

"It says it builds muscle." Fang's strong arm flexes as she stretches it out. "Why not, right?"

"I already have enough in the pantry." The former soldier tells her. "More than enough for the two of us and Snow."

"Oh yeah?" Fang doesn't seem perturbed as she halts and begins to put the large containers back on the shelf. It's colored obnoxiously with an emphasis of neon green and a picture of a very fit man and woman in workout gear takes up the majority of the space. "Figures."

It's another bait for the pink haired woman to take so Fang can tease her some more, and so she ignores her. "It's all advertising, anyway. I've seen plenty of lazy recruits downing one of those every morning and night, thinking it would somehow turn them strong. I ran most of them out before the first week of training ended."

Fang looks slightly forlorn. "So it doesn't actually work?"

"It only helps if you don't sit around and show of your guns all day." Lightning scowls at the thought of the stupid teenagers she had to deal with. She's certain that after a few days with her, they were forever scarred by the blowing of a whistle or the sight of a track field.

In fact, she's so busy internally cussing out the silly young men and women who expected a free uniform to come with said gun that she doesn't realize what she said before it's too late.

Fang is already sporting a grin the size of a dinner plate. "Y'know, if you wanna see me show you what I can do instead of just talk about it, you just gotta ask."

"I've seen enough, no thank you." Lightning quickly finishes the conversation before it can go anywhere. She knows how strong the Pulsian is, but she isn't and will probably never stroke that ego of hers. "The point is that you can have my rations. There are three flavors and Snow hoards the vanilla ones. I usually have the chocolate, so there should be lots of strawberry flavored ones left—and don't make a joke about it."

The Oerban shuts her opened mouth. "Okay, okay. So, we really need all of this?" She gestures to a very full shopping cart full of things she's never even seen before. Grocery shopping wasn't the focus of her days during her last time on Cocoon.

"Yes, because I don't want to see Snow and Hope's attempts at hunting ever again." They also have another shopping cart that's probably even more packed than this one.

"You've got a few kinks to work out yourself, Sunshine." Fang recalls that the pink haired woman really needs to remember that most non predatory animals will flee at the sight of her alone. "We can work on it. We've got time, right?"

"Yes, and your swings leave yourself open for too long, at times." Lightning replies.

Fang frowns a bit at the mention of one of her few flaws in battle. She'll need to get rid of the problem soon. "Seems like we're gonna spend a lot of time together, hm?"

"It seems like it. Now, let's get to the cashier before Serah buys too much sugar." She says, when she spies her little sister shoving handfuls of candy bars into her shopping cart a few steps away.

The cashier doesn't even request any kind of compensation. He refuses to look at them in the eye as he sorts the items they gathered in bags before he simply stands there and waits for them to leave. No warm smile or a goodbye. It doesn't stop the more friendly of the group to thank him. Snow's bellowing thanks is loud as usual, but Serah and Vanille are both more soft spoken than the tall man. They both wait for him to reply, and their faces only fall more when he doesn't.

However, it surprises most when Fang doesn't just pass by him. She stands there, refusing to leave until the shorter man looks up and meets her stare. Then, when he gulps and averts his gaze once more, she chuckles and finally goes. She looks back as she follows the rest of her companions. "You know we're not the ones you should be worried about."

Lightning leaves her alone at first, but once they're out of the shop, she wraps her fingers around the dark skinned Oerban's wrist and pulls hard. "What were you thinking?" She scowls, her strength impressive even when incapacitated.

 _Click._

"Sis..." Serah looks too tired to intervene.

Perfectly aware of the stares they're receiving from the people walking the streets, the older Farron bites down and lowers her voice as she moves closer to speak in Fang's ear. "I've handled cases like this before. They'll think you're an enemy of Cocoon. Spreading propaganda isn't taken lightly, Fang."

 _Click._

"Seriously?" Fang is thankful for the information, but she isn't impressed at all. "You can't even tell people what's going on in your head up here?"

The soldier from last year won't believe what she's saying now. "No. Even if it's true."

Snow whistles. "That's hardcore."

Sazh sighs as he cradles his cooing son in his arms. "You military types." He shakes his head. "Always so intense."

"It's politics." Lightning corrects him. "The military is often involved in it." She huffs, before she begins to walk again. Her pace is slower due to the crutches she dislikes so much.

 _Click._ Fang grabs her arm, nearly throwing her off balance. Lightning barely manages to catch herself before she comes tumbling down, fortunately able to balance herself on her good leg. She doesn't pull away, but the cross glare she's aiming at the taller of the two is enough to make a grown adult cry.

"What are you doing, Fang?" She hisses.

"I saw a flash." Fang's eyes dart around the crowds of people walking through the streets. The colors all blend into one, green hair and white jackets to pink shirts and neon yellow shoes, but her trained eyes still focus.

"What—" Lightning's words die in realization. "Fang, keep moving."

That's code enough for her and she nods to everyone else in a silent gesture to follow. They move in silence, noting the looks and the wide berths given to them like they're predators amidst a pen of helpless animals. Minutes pass and she can't see anything suspicious in the middle of the bustling groups of people. Not even one thing out of place. She slows her pace to let Lightning catch up, subtly closing the distance between them. "What is it?" She says, when she's close enough to say it without alerting anyone around them.

"Act normal." She curtly informs the group, not even glancing back.

"Claire," Serah breaks into a jog to her sister's side. "What is it?"

Flashes. Flashes mean cameras, or just one. Police officers don't use the flashing ones, they're too obvious. "Someone's keeping an eye on us." She quickly says.

Sazh lowers his son so that he can shield the toddler with his chest, eyes nervously scanning for anything he thinks is out of the ordinary. "What? Why?"

Lightning doesn't have to explain. "You know why."

Snow crosses his arms and smiles like there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. "Then let's give them something to see."

* * *

 **I know my update times are horrible and I'm very, very sorry. I'm thinking of doing a binge-writing so I can update lots within a small period of time because it's basically impossible to not miss a few dates with the amount of stuff I'm writing. (Yes, I made the mistake of doing too many stories boohoo).**


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